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WEEK 20: Life pretty much feels back to normal. I get sore and swollen some days, but most of the time I have no pain. Finally started back at kickboxing on Tuesday and I am hurting and swollen from that, but I would have been hurting regardless of the tummy tuck lol. Snapped some pics to share when I woke up this morning,, enjoy.

This is a close up of the part of my scar that I couldnt get to close for the 10 weeks. It is now fully healed over but is much wider then the rest of the scar as you can see in the pic below.

WEEK16-17: I feel great, my ab work outs are increasing. SO glad I did this, went clothes shopping now that I dont swell as much and it was awesome. I am now able to wear jeans and cute clothes again whoop!

WEEK 13-14: So it will be 14 weeks post op tomorrow. Sorry about the big gap between updates. I injured my hand and typing was pretty painful and almost impossible. On the mends from that now so Ill post more often again. We were also having a rough couple of weeks with our special needs kiddo so that kept me offline quite a bit.

Anyways, I am feeling good! Still get a lot of swelling. I am back into full workout mode (thank God because I started to put on a couple of lbs they are working their way off though) and just started doing some ab exercises yesterday. I did 10 sit ups and could really feel it so I am going to take it very very slow. Probably just add one extra sit up per week. I am also able to run a couple of miles now, but the sprints are still iffy since I twist my abs more when I am running that fast. My incision is still sensitive and I am mostly wearing yoga pants and capris still since they are the most comfortable. I only wear compressions when I feel sore or have a lot of swelling. Here are some pics!

WEEK 10: I am actually 11 weeks post op tomorrow, but went on vacation so I am a little behind. Things are going really well. I still have a lot of swelling, but that is expected. That upper abdominal swelling is driving me crazy, the rest I could care less about. I am back to working out everyday and that is great. I still have to stear clear of abdominal workouts for at least another month. I have been able to do a lot of biking, hiking, walking, kick boxing, ellipticals and ark trainers. I am still not able to run. I made it about 30 seconds before the pain got unbearable. I am significantly weaker then before the surgery and that is frustrating. I can no longer do pull ups and can only do 8 push ups but I am slowly building everything back up and I know that I will get there again. Here are my pics

WEEK 9: I had my check up yesterday, it was awesome! All of my restrictions are lifted and I can do whatever I want to as long as it doesn't hurt to do it. I need to wear the compression garments for when I swell up but that is it. My doctor said that since I am so tiny it will probably see swelling for 12-18 months post op. The more I do, the more I will swell. He said that he expects my ribs to go back to normal with time. Today is my first day not wearing compression bands, but just a compression tank top. It feels good to not have the band on, but my back is sore from being supported for 2 months and then suddenly taking that support away. I have a lot of muscles that I need to slowly build back up.

I know I need to clean my mirror. I am leaving for vacation in the morning and haven't gotten to that part of my to do list yet lol

My compression tank top. Once my swelling is gone, this is what I will look like every day. Love it!

WEEK 8: Feeling much better, my incision is basically healed up now. I am still dealing with a ton of swelling (you can see that in the pics). I have been able to walk about 4 miles every morning and am back to being able to do all of my housework. I still cant carry the laundry baskets though, that hurts so bad. I have another check up next week with the doctor to make sure everything is the way it should be.

The one problem that I have run into is that I have had to wear my compression band higher up because of the stitch abscess. This has caused my ribs to change shape and my rib cage is kind of lopsided now. I have been able to lower the band since the incision is closed again. I called the dr about it and it sounds like my rib cage will go back to normal with time.

Also, wanted to add that my eye is super swollen because somehow I got a pimple between my eyebrow and eyelid. I did not get beat up lol.

You can see the pocket of fluid/swelling above my belly button. Seems to be my main problem area through out all of this. Not sure if they will drain it again at my next apt.

WEEK 7: This week seems to be the turning point for me, I feel awesome! I have been able to go on walks every day and keep up on my cleaning. My incision is FINALLY closing and hasn't resplit in a couple of days. I generally feel good and entergetic. I have 2 more weeks until my vacation, so I really need the incision to be healed up by then. I also put in my belly button ring that I took out over 5 years ago. I had kept the hole open through out the years and it was fun to actually have a ring back in. Here are my pics this week.

That is all that is left that needs to finish healing.

I cant wait to get a cuter ring :) Kind of silly to be excited about, but I am lol

WEEK 6: About 4 days ago I switched over the bandaging on stitch abscess. I was using regular bandaids and it just wasn't closing and causing me a lot of discomfort. I started to use butterfly bandages and it was closed up within a day. I think it is just because its right on my hip bone and pops open whenever I stretch. It is also right at counter height so that spot gets bumped a lot. It is feeling significantly better now.

Yesterday and today my upper abs have been hurting so bad and my stomach is pretty swollen. I think most of this is caused by being out in the extreme heat and humidity. Its been hard because my kids want to swim in the pool all day, but I just have to sit there and watch since I haven't been cleared to go in yet. So I have been roasting my butt off and cooling down with a misting hose lol.

The thoughts running through my head are not always happy thoughts. I am wishing that I would have waited until winter to do it. I honestly thought that I would feel much more back to myself at 6 weeks post op then I do. The doctors specifically tried to explain how much it will knock you down and out, but I thought "no, Im tough, Ill be up and at 'em in no time" WRONG! I think that this heat is really setting me back in my healing. I also wish that I would have lined up more help with the kids before I had my surgery... but then again I thought I was invincible and that I "didnt need it".

Overall most days are good and getting signifcantly easier. I spend more time moving around then sitting down. I am feeling like little parts of the old me are coming back.

That's why I got it done, you can see more befores in the origional post.I hit up the gym 5 times a week but I couldnt fix that problem.

Thank you very much, im feeling more confident then I have in a long time.

Yes, a lot of restrictions. No bending, no lifting over 10 lbs, no twisting, no swimming, no exercise. They basically want you to do the bare minimum for at least 6 weeks. They do want you up and walking short distances after surgery to help prevent blood clots. I am just now this week going to start walking for 25-30 mins on the treadmill at the gym to start building my muscles back. No core exercises for 6 months.

Quoting 3weeonez:

Ok, forgive my late entry to the party...

#1 - ya look great

#2 - what prompted you to have this procedure? Was it medical? Were you like me, frustrated with results from CONSTANT exercise after three little ones to no avail?

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